Euro advances on data-light day

A lack of economic releases today is allowing market sentiment to drive the currency markets this morning as the dollar’s recent weeks of gains are corrected.

Dollar losing steam

The dollar got hit with worse-than-expected inflation data last week and has since given back some of its gain to its major peers. The greenback was trading down against the euro and the pound, but up against the Japanese yen, as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yields settles below 3%.

GBP/USD is trading up around 1.36 ahead of the U.K. labor report on Tuesday.

USD/JPY is still attempting to make a run at 110 after trading in the tight range of 109 to 110 in the past few days.

ECB, Fed speak

The EUR/USD pair is making a run at 1.20 Monday morning, trading up around 1.198 off of comments from a senior European Central Bank official saying that rate hikes will come quarters not years after the end of asset purchases.

The day is filled with more speeches by the ECB and members of the Federal Reserve.

Earlier Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said that she expects to reach the Fed’s symmetric inflation goal of 2% on a sustainable basis in one to two years.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is scheduled to speak later this morning.

Trump reverses ZTE-ban ahead of Chinese visit to D.C.

In a Sunday morning tweet, President Trump said he has instructed the Commerce Department to get Chinese telecomm company ZTE “back in business, fast.”

In April, the Trump administration imposed a seven-year ban on ZTE of buying the crucial technology it needs to make its products, including Qualcomm Inc.’s semiconductors.

The change of heart comes right before Chinese officials are set to arrive in Washington, D.C. to continue trade talks between the two countries.